* J. Hillis Miller, Distinguished Professor of English, Department ofEnglish and Comparative Literature, University of California at Irvine* Derek Attridge, Professor of English, Department of English andRelated Literatures, University of York

Mourning is the repetition of what we do not have. But it is not just ayearning for what will never again make itself present: whatdistinguishes mourning from what Freud and his time called melancholiais that mourning affirms—or learns to affirm—this absence. On a thinthread of words, mourning calls up what was perhaps never there to beginwith, and brings it into being. And that means that mourning is at theheart of so much we most value, and its continuing claim on us. The lateJacques Derrida catalogues many of these in the course of his work:friendship, justice, the debt and the gift, inheritance, responsibility,hospitality, tradition; literature, and the arts in general. In thatmourning is inseparable from speculation in all senses of the word, itshospitality to the new is also at the heart of the scattered and variousdisciplines that make up the humanities.

Mourning & its Hospitalities | (after…)will have as its focus the implications for the humanities of the workof mourning. We invite proposals for 20-minute papers, and panels ofpapers, that will develop some aspect of this topic. Proposals should beno more than 200 words. The deadline for submission is February 23 2007.

We are particularly interested in:* considerations of the work and functions of the post- (-colonial,-structuralist or -modernist)* considerations of the work of writers, literary and philosophical, onthe work of mourning and hospitality* the roles of the humanities in a post-humanities age, of theory aftertheory, and of literature after literature* the concepts of tradition* the debates about critical literacy and the role of literature in theprimary and secondary education systems; teaching the humanities in thecurrent political and economic climates

We intend to publish a collection of essays from this conference.

Hospitalities of Literature | (teaching after …)is a one-day symposium on teaching, with the participation of theconference's plenary speakers. There will be separate bookings for thisevent, with a limited number of places available.

"What is the use of literary study now, in this new university [that haslost the guiding mission that has sustained it since the earlynineteenth century]? Should, ought, or must we still study literature?What is the source now of the obligation to study literature? Who orwhat addresses to us a call to do so? Why should we do it? To whatpurpose? Can literary study still be defended as a socially useful partof university research and teaching or is it just a vestigial remnantthat will vanish as other media become more dominant in the new globalsociety that is rapidly taking shape?"(J. Hillis Miller, "Governing the Ungovernable: Literary Study in theTransnational University", 1995)

Discussion will focus on a small number of ten-minute papers on theissues raised by this statement. These papers will be circulated inadvance rather than read live.